Alexander North
Alexander, or Alex to those close to him, is a proud memeber of the US Marine Corps. Despite the insistance of a few other characters that the Marine Corp no longer exists, Alex choses to hold on to his title and the beliefes and traditions that come with it. He puts great faith in his combat skills and physical ablities because they are pretty much his only strong point. Overview Appearance and Personality Alex is described as standing at six feet with, "Fair skin, blond hair and eyes that appear as either blue or green depending on the light. Well muscled, but not overly buff. Has a beard he keeps trimmed short." He is most often seen in his ACUs with tactical vest and helmet in place. He likes to be a touch sarcastic at times, but has a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to threats against the group's safty or stability. That is a subject he never jokes around about. Alex is capable of reason and rational thinking, but when he sets himself on something, he sticks to his guns till the end. He doesn't believe in retreating and very rearly backs down when faced with a challenge. His drive to save lives has, at times, overridden his pride, but these circumstances happen only in the most extream of times. Alex prefers to keep his pain, both physical and emotional, to himself. There are very few people in the group he is willing to open up too, due in part to his stuborn pride and in part to some trust issues that sprung up over time. He prefers to just musscle through it and act like the tough guy, but the harder the hard-ass, the softer inside. He has had several break downs over the two or so years covered in the RP. What the man does not realize is he is slowly driveing himself to insanity by keeping himself so closed in. Education and Intelegence Alex isn't exactly the brightest lightbulb. He barely scraped by in highschool and never went to college. However, Alex has his own brand of simple wisdom and knows all the ins and outs of his job. Put him in a combat situation, and he can do just about any mission you should ask of him. Alex sticks to what he knows, often saying things such as "This isn't my field" or "I am no expert" when faced with unfamiliar information. However, his words can occasionally run away with him. There are times he says things without fully thinking them through. This is in part a result of his action-oriented attitude and being trained to make quick and sure decisions. Combat Abilities Alex is a carrer soldier, and thus is very skilled and well trained in combat. His abilities include rifle marksmenship, hand to hand combat, and the use and operation of a wide selection of military grade small arms weapons. Twenty years of training and experience have given him excelent reflexes, battle instincts and muscle memory. This makes him arguably the best fighter amongst the group. Technical Skills As he will tell you, Alex if first and formost a riflemen. As such, the skills and knowledge he possesses is that which relates directly to his job. Alex knows climbing, repelling, SCUBA and sky diving and operation of numerous vehicle types as part of his training, as well as land navigation, Combat Life Saveing and the care and maintenince of small arms, but is far from an expert in any of these activities. Outside of these fields, there isn't much Alex excells at. Artistic Abilities Art is not something a man like Alex would spen much time on. However, he does posess a fair amount of skill in sketching and drawing. These skills are not used for artistic presuites, but instead are used for sketching maps and defenceive postions. Weapons Alex's character is largely combat based. This makes his weapons one of the most important part of his character. He has carefully familirized himself with each item in his arsonel so that he can use it with maximum efficency. Long Range (1000+ Yards) The long range weapon Alex uses the most is the M-14 combat rifle. It's semi-automatic firing action means it can fire faster then most marksmen's weapons, and it is well renowned for it's acuracy and stopping power over a range. However, being made of wood and metal, this rifle is a bit heavyer then some and also uses rare 30 calliber amunition. These things stop Alex from useing it more often. He has also said before, "I am not a sniper," and thus prefers to leave long range duties to people who are specialized in this field. Mid Rang (500-1000 Yards) As a riflemean, Alex is trained to engage targets at a close to mid range. When engageing targets at this distance, Alex will most often go to the M-16 A4. This was the standard issue weapon of the US Mareine Corps before the apocalypse, and thus one he is very familiar with. It has lots of customization options, makeing it versitile for many situations. Short Range (<500 Yards) The M4 assult rifle is Alex's primary firearm of choice. While it suffers in precision and range when compaired to it's base, the M16, it still holds it's accuracy well, has a good rate of fire and very little recoil. Alex is highly profecient in this weapon system and has proven his skill with it time and again. Alex's second short range weapon is a Remington 870 combat varient shotgun. It's 12 gauge shells pack a punch and are a common find, but the weapon is a bit slow. Alex uses it when breaching doors or preforming sweeps on tight structures. Mele Pre-Apocalypse Alex was never too good at anything outside physical activities. His grades were pretty pathetic in Highschool, to the point where no college would take him in. Without much hope for higher education and few job opertunities, Alex decided to enlist in the Marine Corp. Once his basic training was done, he went on to train for the Recon, an elite group of Marines who specialize scouting ahead of the main forces. They get in and get out of tough situations to find what their borthers will be up against, eliminate key targets and destroy important enemy emplacments. Post-Apocalypse When the infection got started, Alex's number was pulled. He and his squad were sent to defend the city of Atlanta and the E-Vac/Reffugee camp their. Season 1 Alex has his first encounter with Dominic while he is out on a supply run to a gas station. Several voices that were raised too high drew in a group of Walkers that Alex spoted early. This first encounter was a bit stressful, as the old Marine went to his training and experience and started to hand out orders. He quickly found that no one in the group took kindly to orders. Despite being shown a fair amount of disrespect and feeling personally offended, he helped to fight off the hoard long enough to ensure escape to a safe location. Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Killed Victims As a combat effective and experienced soldier, Alex has racked up a number of kills in the human catagory even before the apocalypes. His skills took a bit of time to transfer to anti-walker combat, but his kill count against the undead rose very quickly once he found a rythem. Two of his most noteable kills are Krug and Raymond. These individuals were both important members of the Followers cult. Alex sustained a serious wound during the exchange, but those two names are perminetly etched into Alex's list of death. It is also of note that Alex blames himself for the loss of many of the members of the group, as well as his original squad and wife. While few, if any, of these are truly his fault, he sees himself as a protector and a warrior. The lose of life due to external sources means he failed to preform his duties. Even if he was not involved, these names have a place on Alex's list and can not be removed. Relationships Most folks do not get along with Alex. His serious nature and mostly no-nonsense attitude make him disagreeable enough, but his stuborn pride can make him unbareable. The group's guards have a lot of respect for him, since he trained, organized, and in many cases, protected them from all kinds of threats. However, even this respect can eventually reach a limit. One of Alex's closest relationships is his relation to his squad from before the fall. He was actually the leader of the squad during the Seige of Atlanta, and as such, he feels responsible for their deaths. One of the biggest drives that keeps him moveing (Though he would never admit it to himself or others) is his urge to prove himself to his lost squad, and show that he is still capable of preforming his duties. Trivia *Close to the end of Season 4, Alex's writer added a bolo machete to his list of common weapons. This is actually a call-back to the Raider and Beach Assault Marines of the second world war. They were issued a machete for brush clearing pourposes in addition to their fighting knife/bayonete. *Alex's writer has stated he was never good at choseing names for his characters. He pretty much just drew Alex's name out of a hat. Category:Character Category:Main RP Characters